Valley Times

Just called the bay area news group again. They have a new carrier. 11 out of 11 days it is either not delivered or delivered late — and it is delivered only after calling them (sometimes delivered). Customer service is great. Carrier/​delivery gets a «F».

Terrible service. I have Sunday Only service and the paper never arrives at the same time. Rarely have a paper when I get up at 6am. Most times do not receive the paper until about 8am or later. Paper is usually thrown in the street gutter, so I get a soggy paper when it rains.
I have called to complain numerous times and the customer service people say all the right things, but nothing has been done to fix the service. I have suggested that maybe Bay Area News Group should consider going back to using kids/​teens as delivery personnel, since I have not had a great delivery experience since the adults have taken over delivery of the paper. Driving down the street in a car and doing a hook shot with the paper out the drivers side window is not the way to consistently place the paper on the driveway or walkway.
I even sent and email to Dan Smith, Circulation Director for the Contra Costa Times/​Tri Valley Times. Never got a call or email response. Obviously there is no Customer in Customer Service at this paper.
No paper again today. Called in at 8am for a redelivery. At 9am still no paper, so submitted an online complaint. Now 12:30pm and still no paper. Guess I’ll have to drive to 7 – 11 to pick one up.
Save your money and do not subscribe to this paper.

Deplorable service. Margiinal product. We’ve taken this paper for 15 years. For the 1^st 14 years, service was acceptable. Since we moved to the Dublin/​San Ramon border the service has become miserable. We quit taking daily service because we could not get them to deliver the paper by 6:30am. Their last ploy to keep us was to give us online access and Sunday delivery for $ 1/​week. The Sunday paper never arrives until about 8am or later. Since we are often out of the house by then it isn’t much good to us. Whenever I have called to complain, their customer service people say all the right things, but do nothing to fix the service.
Such a miserable news provider!

Absolutely miserable customer service. Getting calls for a cancellation from months ago. They obviously have no concern with the customer.
Suggest just going online and save your money.

Soooo frustrated with The Valley Times! I tried yesterday, to call in, and get a subscription… Waited on hold for about 10 min, and then, only to get somebody with such a heavy accent, I couldnt understand. I hung up! Today… same scenario. On hold for 13 minutes… ANOTHER heavy accent… I am beyond MAD! I started to try & understand her, but she was useless! WHY do companies use foreigners on the phone lines to speak to Americans??? Come on, man! I would like to see Management call the customer service line, and see how much fun it is!

I only get the Sunday Times. The last 3 Sundays it was delivered Monday morning. I call the number in the paper to complain. I’m told that I’ve called the wrong number and the agent gives me another number. I call that and am told it is not the correct number and given another number. I ask where the operator is located, the PHILLIPINES!!! MY LOCAL PAPER IS OUTSOURCED??? I am outraged…

I’ve enjoyed the Valley Times for decades. We lived in Concord and received the Contra Costa Times from ’77-’88. Then we moved to Pleasanton where we received the Valley Times. I have experienced nothing but EXCELLENT service, customer service and professionalism whenever i’ve had occasion to call them.
I’m so pleased with my Valley Times delivery that I’m giving my carrier, James Pierce, a token of my gratitude and appreciation — even if i have to wait until he delivers my paper on Christmas morning. He’s gone above and beyond the norm and porched my paper every single morning ²⁴⁄₇ and that’s amazing in this day and age.
THANK YOU JAMES PIERCE! and a MERRY CHRISTMAS & PROSPEROUS 2009 to my daily/​wknd newspaper and all the staff, etc.
A very happy/​grateful
Valley Times reader

this was a great paper that has really gone downhill over the years.
if i call to stop delivery for a week because i’m going on vacation i don’t want to come home and find an entire weeks worth of papers in my driveway. now everyone knows i’m not home and i won’t get around to reading last weeks news.
the delivery is the worst and is never in any one place. forget about trying to throw them from your car and avoid the wet grass or concrete from the sprinklers. what ever happened to the good old days of the paperboy? i did it for a summer and i got up early and rolled each and every paper and made sure it was on each and every porch. seems they don’t have to worry about tips anymore they just don’t care and throw it anywhere.
with so much to offer online with the news my days of the valley times are almost over.

The Valley Times used to be a high-​quality local publication, affiliated with the Contra Costa Times, which was part of the well respected Knight-​Ridder news organization (which also published the San Jose Mercury News). Unfortunately, several years ago, it was sold to the McClatchy organization (publishers of the far inferior Sacto Bee, among others), and then last year both the Contra Costa Times and its regional affiliates, and the SJ Mercury were acquired by the Megla-​Mart of news organizations, MediaNews Group Inc.
They immediately announced that no changes would take place, then summarily fired more than half of the reporters and columnists.
What used to be a superb newspaper that reflected (for the most part) the interests, views and political leanings of this part of the Bay Area and state has become a dumbed-​down, pile of crap that is stuffed with wire-​service articles, national columnists and editorial leanings that tend towards the «Red State» viewpoint. The international coverage is like USA Today Lite.
Content was bad, but it was a bargain, and I liked getting it for the complete listing of Bay Area movie showtimes. However, when they raised my subscription rate from the $ 19.95/year for daily & weekend delivery to $ 39.95 per quarter (with no prior warning until I received a «past due» notice), I canceled my 10-​year subscription.
That was two months ago. And they have continued to deliver it every day. To me, it is like having someone throw a rubber banded pile of trash on my driveway every morning. (Like the Sims’ newspaper deliveries — it immediately makes my house «dirty.») For awhile, they were also delivering a copy of the «Hayward Daily Review.» WTF?!
To add insult to injury, they call at least 3 – 4 times per week to hound me to re-​subscribe. One day, while on the phone with one of the circulation department members, I got a call interrupt from another who was trying to convince me to subscribe.
With the easy availability and instant delivery of news and other (ie. movie listings) information online, why would anyone continue to subscribe to paper newspapers? I totally understand why the news print industry is in trouble — and they have only themselves to blame!
According to Wikipedia, «MediaNews Group is known as a cost-​cutter in the newspaper publishing industry. The company has a reputation for buying smaller daily newspapers in a single area (examples include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area) and consolidating their operations, including sharing staff writers and printing facilities. As a result of the cost-​cutting, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times,[7] some former employees say that the newspapers are focused on making a profit to the detriment of good journalism.» For more on Media News Group, check out the complete write-​up: